newbie

[cody87]

Hey i have a 1987 honda prelude with ...........almost 250,000 miles on it an i bought the car to be a lil drive around car til i fixed up my 1981 camaro but now that i got the feel for honda i want to do some modifications such as a cold air intake from AEM and an intake manifold and a throttle body...........but my question is well is that really a good idea considering the mileage? it has the stock motor in it , its a 2.0 si and the guy i bought it from didnt kno his lefts from rights so with that said i never asked him what the engine was like a b20a ot b20a3 and what not but im new to this level of automotive stuff such as fuel injection and if that is a good idea i had then could u point me in the right direction for getting aftermarket parts because its hard to tell what the engine is but im 99.99% sure that it is a b20a engine according to wikipedia? and is there even modifications for my size engine cuz when i was looking i saw mods for newer vehicles with b20a engines? please help me out on this one.

[spiffyguido]

The engine can be easily identified by looking at the engine stamp. Just look on the front of the engine where the engine block meets the transmission bell housing. Near flywheel timing port (small square opening), there will be a flat section on the engine with the serial number and the engine model.

Even with the high mileage, a cold air intake is still a good idea, especially a quality one like what AEM makes.

[cody87]

Thanks for helpn me out on finding the engine stamp.............well the good news is i found the stamp and the bad news is I have a A20A3 sitting under my hood...........i mean its a reliable motor but i was looking up performance parts for it and only seen rebuild kits, gasket kits, and a do it urself turbo kit. I may not be looking in the right places tho cuz like i said earlier i really just want to put a cold air on the car but when i look under AEM they dont have kits for the 87' prelude so i guess ima look under Injen and hopefully they will have a kit for my car. Any advice?

[spiffyguido]

First, don't be discouraged. That is a great little engine.

You can look all over for a cold air intake. There won't be many. You always have the option though to make your own. It's not hard to by a couple sections of pipe and a couple of 90 degree bends to get the size that you need. You have to measure it all yourself, but it can be made to fit.

[cody87]

ya true i mean it is a great lil engine lol i was looking under ebay and saw a weapon type R and a weapon secret cold air that supposetly fits my car but im not sure about it cuz i mean come on now its ebay lol idk ima have 2 look deeper into that but when i bought my honda i thought i was going 2 be able 2 fix it up like all the other hondas ive seen but i guess u dont always need performance 2 luv ur car lol 2 be honest i was looking at a 90' honda civic hatchback b4 i seen my car and i REALLY wanted that hatchback i mean i looked at it once myself and just seen cosmetic damage like rust that could be fixed but then i seen the 300,000 miles on the engine and was like o crap lol so i got my dad 2 look at it b4 i made my decision on the car and it was smoking a lil and had a slight delay when u went 2 crank it so i had 2 deny that offer but now i have a very reliable car ...............with that said..............lol would it be worth it 2 rebulid that engine under my hood OR 2 just save up and buy a new engine? im kinda leaning towards the rebuild tho cuz i was taught to fix my ol 81' camaro.........which was carbuerated so im thinkn this would be a great experience and i would learn some new stuff along with my father if he chooses to help me with the rebuild

[spiffyguido]

Personally, I'd choose the rebuild.

The A20A3 has a cast iron block and iron sleeves, so there's not likely to be anything seriously wrong with it. It's a tough little engine. Another bonus is that the rebuild process is fairly well documented in the manual (see manuals section). Just make sure you can still get all the parts that you need before you tie into it.

Alternatively, it would be faster to just swap in another lower-mileage engine. Depending on the auto wreckers in your area, this can be rather easy or really hard to do. The A20A3 was used in the 2nd gen prelude and also several models of Accord, so it's not that hard to find one if you look around.